Ray and Mumford and Sons live. This is pretty much the same thing as the studio, but live at the Hammersmith and the crowd is clearly thrilled. It's good... it somewhat seems like Ray is more comfortable live, than the studio, which is interesting.
Aah, better !!! Nice !! Good ! Not great yet, as Dylan could've said, but it's getting there. First, they combine two of the greatest songs in the Kinkdom (and in the Rockdom as far as I'm concerned) which is a sweet idea, especially thanks to how the two sets of lyrics seem to answer each other in a meaningful way. If the idea was Mumford's, I think he deserves to be called Markus for a while. The Days intro is more or less the drone arrangement premiered with the choir, and it's excellent. Then, This Time Tomorrow comes across pretty well too, a bit too "drummy" for my taste (if @Michael Streett allows me that neologism) but it works. It oviously can't compete with the original, it doesn't have that dreamy, floating, gliding through the air quality (Dave's harmonies, the Baptist's arpeggios), but it's fine, it works with the new meaning created by Days being part of the proceedings. It's not a song about touring musicians anymore, more of an existential view on life, the singers contemplating the past and the future in one grasp. So fine. And the new outro's a stunning surprise that does achieve greatness, so Dylan would've been right on this one. A very nice listen that almost healed me from my celluloid injuries.
W/ Mumford & Sons: This is an effort that I’d prefer to be anonymous, meaning that I’m unable to get past the name as it conjures up a plumbing service or a mortuary; either one featuring a 1950s era box van with the name stenciled on the side. (I have this problem with Milk Carton Kids, too…though not in association with plumbers/undertakers). As to the songs: Ho-hum on ‘Days’ but I like ‘This Time Tomorrow.’ Re: Mumford & Sons. My only exposure, aside from not being enamored with their artist name, is The New Basement Tapes.
I really can't hack Mumford and progenys painfully affected oh-so-millenial hipster neofolk vocal stylings, but if nothing else, they got Ray to perform (a version of) 'This Time Tomorrow' live while he was still singing on tip top form, and I have to admit that the genuine joy when they segue from Days to TTT in these clips is palpable. There does seem to be some kind of genuine connection and spark going on in this collab, it could be in large part that the medley choice is relatively inspired and fresh compared to much of proceedings .
Mumford & Sons - in 2013, they did one of their Brothers Of The Road tour stops in Simcoe, Ontario (40 miles from Woodstock and The Band's Rick Danko's birthplace). This was a two day event at the fairgrounds. Four bands on the Friday and six on the Saturday with the Mumfords headlining the Saturday. To tell you the truth, if the venue had had a roof, the Mumfords would have blown it off. They were pretty good. Encore included Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" and The Band's "The Weight" where all the performers joined in. I have their Sigh No More album so I appreciate them though they don't seem to have had much staying power. I enjoyed this collaboration more than either of the two previous ones on the album. They certainly Mumford-ized these two songs. This gets a thumbs up from me.
I didn’t comment on the first two songs because I didn’t put them in my version of the album and I figured that if you can’t say anything good, why say anything at all, which apparently my fellow Avids don’t believe in . I did include this song, however, because I thought it was pretty unique way to do a medley and the performance was good. It wouldn’t replace the originals, but it was pretty decent. Mumford & Sons seemed to be all over the place back then, but I haven’t heard from them since. PS: I had my copy of this album playing in my car while running errands w/my friend and Kinks fan extraordinaire Jimmy and liked it. Mind you I didn’t have the first two songs
I'm not what you'd call a Mumford & sons fan, but every time I hear them, see them, listen to them, I'm pleasantly surprised. I agree with @mark winstanley's posting that there's no rule nor a definite definition of "authenticity" in music. And I'm also often suspicious of "sincerity" as a cardinal virtue of everything in the art world. Then again, call me inconsistent, but this Mumford guy strikes me as authentic and sincere, in a good way … which would probably amount to little, if he didn't strike me as talented, too. Exhibit AAA is on this clip from the New Basement Tapes, which, as some of you may know, was a T Bone Burnett helmed project of putting some unreleased 1967-ish Dylan lyrics to music. Costello, Dawes, Rhiannon Giddens, Jim James, T Bone, some of my favorite guys & girls were involved (full disclosure : Johnny Depp is definitely not one of them). And Marcus's main track was a stunning highlight, with a bit of drama attached to it, the man being so intimidated by all the talents around him that he lost his confidence and thought he would not be able to come up with the goods… ultimately managing to write and perform this one, in this climatic sequence.
Ray Davies with Mumford And Sons - Days/This Time Tomorrow Wisely this was the choice for UK promotion, and it's great to see this medley performed live on Jools Holland's TV show. This works far better than the previous two tracks (front-loading the biggest names on the project) and it brings a new angle to a well known and loved classic together with another track which should be a well known and well loved classic. This seems more of a real collaboration - maybe it's because there's real live performances together - giving us an enjoyable re-take. Possibly the best track on the album.
I gotta get past the name as it is quite likely Mumford & Sons is something I’ll enjoy. (Still working on John Prine, with James McMurtry on the back burner, so suspect I’ll never quite get around to checking it out.) edit from wiki: The band name originates from Marcus Mumford being the most visible member, organising the band and their performances. Lovett indicated that the name was meant to evoke the sense of an "antiquated family business name". Me: it worked! And, furthermore, it led me to believe it includes multi-generational band members. Which it doesn’t.
Mumford & Sons is one of those names that was hanging around the charts a decade ago, although as I've not taken any interest in the top 40 for about the last 30 years they were easy to avoid. I remember that as well as being popular they were also widely derided for being fiddley-oy-doy-doy folkies. I think I had the misfortune to be listening to the radio a while back when "Little Lion Man" came on, and I can't say that it encouraged me in any way to seek out anything else of theirs. I see that they haven't gone past number 40 in the charts for the last 8 years, so presumably they finally became a victim of the "pop/rap/r&b to the exclusion of all else" clause in the top 40. Looking at one of their chart entries from 2012, I see we are likely to encounter them in the Paul Simon thread as well... As for this track - well, I got through it, which at least places it above the previous two. It's nice to hear "This Time Tomorrow" even if it doesn't come close to the original, and using "Days" to bookend it works surprisingly well. I won't be rushing to listen to it again, but it's certainly the best so far on this album.
Celluloid Zeroes? Days behind and only read Mark's post and i already had the word "cheapens" on my mind. More Bon Jovial than Bon Mot i just think these guys are a bad choice and fit for a Kinks Kover album. They try very hard but it's kind of pompous and has elements of a bland FM heavy handed power ballad from the drum intro treatment on and then virtually from the get go Richie Sambora unloads out of Lock(lear) step with a processed guitar sound with squashed signal like he hadn't even studied all Dave and all of the night! Due this project i now get how Ray came to do this with them in concert but it comes off more dead than alive! N.b. A soft touch they have not.
Mumford and Sons should have done a record with Bon Jovi. Then I wouldn’t have to comment on them on a Kinks thread. This entire album puts me in a bad mood. I made it halfway through the song. I have no interest in this band singing on a Kinks classic. I actually have no interest in them singing on anything. This singer sounds annoyingly close to Dave Matthews. Now I will play The Kinks to cheer myself up.
Days/This Time Tomorrow (Mumford) What a great idea bringing these two songs together. The first time I heard this, when Days started, I thought “meh,” but combining the two songs brings this to another level. The juxtaposition really makes This Time Tomorrow shine. It probably should go without saying that I would never have any of theses “duet” versions replace the originals, but I really enjoy this one. My wife is not a music collector, having a small fraction of the cds or lps that I do. Once in a while I would buy a cd, and she would fall in love with it and confiscate it. Somehow, even though I may have originally bought an artist’s cd, they became her artist. Mumford & Sons’ Sigh No More is one of those. I obviously liked it, or wouldn’t have bought it, but on road trips we would take turns picking the music, and I did get to the point of thinking “not this again,” when my wife put it on, occasionally, less than tactfully, groaning. I did end up buying their second album as a gift for my wife. I haven’t listened to either in a number of years at this point, so I’m able to listen to and enjoy this duet with Ray with fresh ears.
Ahahah, grumpy @palisantrancho!!! In France, for some cultural divide reason, Dave Matthews Band never did anything, I don't think I've ever heard them, so I can't compare!! But your reaction cracks me up. Please, please, please, stick around for the rest of this stupid duet record, you're in it for some more outbursts, I can tell you!! The 16 tracks versions ends with a Swedish act and then a french Belgium one, to honor the non-english speaking contingency of this Thread. Well, honor… perhaps that's not the right choice of word. In the case of the french Belgium guy, at least… Anyway, you know why I have sympathy for Marcus Mumford ? It's because of his wonderful emotional reaction in the below YT sequence, taken from another T Bone Burnett project documentary (he must be fond of Mumford, he enlists him all the time!). You'll see that, for @Zeki's pleasure, this scene combines his favorite plumbers (non singing, but moved to tears) and the Milk Carton Kids, performing one of their arresting masterpieces. Mumford is so moved that Chris Tiles has to comfort him… This is turning into free form Saturday but you really should all listen to this, and then pick up the latest Milk Carton Kids LP, I Only See The Moon which is nothing short of extraordinary.
The second half of this duets record is the stronger stretch. Beginning with Track Six. (I’m out walking, listening to Prine (reached 1995) so I can’t see song title). Mumford and Milk Carton Kids…together? What are the odds!? (Probably high!) Edit: I just watched it. I had no idea the Milk Carton Kids is just a duo.
Nice... It's kinda stunning to me that someone in music has never heard of Simon and Garfunkel.... That song could legitimately be a Simon And Garfunkel track.
Days/This Time Tomorrow I agree this is an inspired choice of songs to put together as a medley of sorts. I’ll admit I have no working knowledge of Mumford And Sons outside of this track. They do get a specific mention on the album cover as opposed to being part of the "...And Many More" bucket so they might have been a selling point at some point. This track is not horridly offensive like the first two songs on this album and the Days reprise at the end works pretty well actually. I like the harmony vocals better than the lead vocals. The banjo is a nice touch. Best song of the album thus far? Ha Ha - that’s not a high bar at all of course. How could it not be? Actually, the drums on this do it no favors from where I sit. Too ploddy if you'll allow me that neologism. (Neologism? Actually had to look that one up. That's a new one on me .)
They're really good. I never once in my life heard any French musicians reaching that level of smooth togetherness, and Americans seem to be doing it in their sleep. Of course, I know the secret is actually hard work, but I'd rather ignore it. Too painful.